Eagles minicamp practice notes: June 4, 2013

• Nick Foles had a good day. Three passes stood out. He threw a 50 yard bomb to Jeremy Maclin, who tracked it nicely and made the play, even with decent coverage from Cary Williams. Foles also slung a ball over the middle to Jason Avant in between 4 defenders that was right on the money. And finally, he hit Brent Celek with a nice touch pass over a defender on a 15 yard sideline route.

• Matt Barkley also had a decent day. It's kind of funny to think that Matt Barkley and Mike Kafka were both 4th round picks. Kafka looked completely overwhelmed during his first NFL training camp, while Barkley looks absolutely nothing like a rookie.

• In previous practice recaps, we had noted that rookie UDFA Russell Shepard is always one of the last players off the field, staying after to catch passes on the jugs machine. We had also previously mentioned that Shepard had specifically sought out Jason Avant to take him under his wing. Today, after practice, Chip Kelly was speaking with reporters where the players would normally be catching passes on the jugs machine. They fired up the machine, but were told to turn it off because it was too noisy. So what did Avant and Shepard do? They started playing ball inside the house:

• Ifeanyi Momah got some reps with the 1's during the last media-attended practice, and he got some more today. In related WR "depth chart" issues, Tim McManus of Birds 24/7 has a terrific piece about DeSean Jackson's conversation with Chip Kelly about why he was occasionally running with the 2's and 3's.

• Speaking of DeSean, he had an interesting series today in practice. On one play he ran a deep route, at least 40 yards down the field. The ball was thrown elsewhere. Because the team was in hurry up mode, he had to sprint back to the line of scrimmage while looking to the sideline for the play call. As soon as he got lined up, they snapped the ball and threw him a quick hitter. He juked Bradley Fletcher and was off and running again. In the NFL, when we talk about receivers, we often talk about speed, size, hands, etc. One very overlooked aspect of being a good receiver in the pros is stamina. Building stamina is part of what these practices under Chip Kelly are all about.

• In previous recaps, I had given my artist rendition of the "bug wing guys," who simulate opposing defensive linemen with their hands in the air during 7 on 7's:

Here are the real bug wing guys getting ready to go into action:

• I took my first hard look at Kenny Phillips in action today. There weren't many plays where he had to go into a full sprint, or deal with a LeSean McCoy juke, but I thought he looked reasonably agile. He will be a player I'll continue to watch. But so far, at the very least, he's not limping around out there like Marlin Jackson was a few training camps ago.

• Bryce Brown bobbled a handoff exchange today. According to John Gonzalez of CSN Philly, Brown has been carrying around a weighted football to help with his ball security. However, his fumbling last year wasn't limited just to defenders ripping the ball out of his hands. On two occasions last year (against the Ravens and Bengals), Brown was a part of fumbled handoff exchanges that led to turnovers. He needs to correct that aspect of ball security as well.

• I keep mentioning how impressive punter Donnie Jones has been so far. Today I timed the hang time of one of his punts at 5.0 seconds. That is excellent, and I'm not sure that would have even been his best time if I had been recording all of them.

• Another bad shotgun snap by Julian Vandervelde today. Last practice he sailed one over Michael Vick's head. Today he snapped one to Dennis Dixon's feet. If the season began tomorrow and Vandervelde had to come in and play center, I'd be very nervous.

• Damaris Johnson has been very involved so far in these practices. The Eagles are using him a lot on end-arounds, quick screens, and other easy ways to get him into space with some room to operate.

• Cary Williams spoke for a looooooong time after practice to Eagles reporters. He was on fire. I'll estimate that there will be at least a dozen articles about him, ranging from his thoughts on picking out wood and fireplaces for his home, to being a good father, to the impossibility of pleasing everyone in America. This guy is going to be great to cover.

• I'll be back here again tomorrow with more Eagley practice goodness.